Friday Link Love

Here's a quick recap of some of the web finds I'm loving this week:

- Have you seen photos yet of Wednesday's solar eclipse in Asia? This is a great collection of images. Wondering if you'll ever be able to experience a solar eclipse? Well, we'll be able to see one here in the U.S. on August 21, 2017. Mark your calendars!

- Here's a quick glimpse into one of the Martha Stewart craft storage rooms. A room full of every craft product imaginable? Ummmm, HEAVEN!

- There's something eerie yet beautiful about these images of 100 abandoned houses.

- This is a fun little time waster. Read the instructions, then click "click me to get trippy."

- This video has been blowing up on blogs and Twitter today. It IS pretty amazing. Can you just imagine how fun of a couple this bride and groom must be?! And what good sports their bridesmaids and groomsmen are.

Have a good weekend!

Holly Springs Breaking News

So, last weekend on our date night to Walmart (yes, that's what happens when you get old), we passed by this new building on Hwy 55. 

I said, hmmm wonder what that's going to be? (The last time I got excited about a newly built building near our house it turned out to be a fire station. Now, I'm all for fire safety but it's not exactly somewhere I'm going to be frequenting regularly).

Lee says, "It looks like an Autobell." (if you don't know, Autobell is a car wash) I immediately start singing "People can tell when you Autobell!" Lee rolls his eyes.

Then, IT HAPPENS.

We turn the corner onto the little side street between Walmart and this new little building, AND SEE THIS:

The hallelujah chorus commences.

I was speechless. Then I started screaming.

Lee was pretty excited too.

Holly Springs is a growing community, but other than Sonic and Wendy's, the restaurant choices are scarily similar to La Grange (Andy's, Bojangles, chinese restaurant, pizza joint). 

But now, my all time favorite fast food is here to save the day, and just 4 minutes away! 

This could be scary. I could eat Chick-fil-A every day of the week. ESPECIALLY on Sundays. And Lee and I are suckers for their milkshakes. Mmmmm.

No word on when it's opening, but they're already hiring!

Looks Good Enough to Eat

When we make dinner and it comes out super yummy looking I like to take pictures. 

Because I'm a dork like that. 

So I thought I'd share a few of our recent masterpieces.

Mmmm baked ziti. The trick here is to turn the broiler on for just a bit to get the cheese all bubbly and browned.

Bruschetta made with fresh basil from our garden. Here's the recipe. (Sorry these next two pics are crappy, I'm usually so ready to dig in I can't be bothered to run and get the camera, so these are camera phone pics.)

Meet the 8 to 5 sandwich. I read about it on Design Mom's blog. It sounded right up my alley. So we made it that same week. Ummm, can you say DELICIOUS?! Here's the recipe. Avocado AND cream cheese? Yes please!

(Sort of) Tightwad Tuesday

So, I have a confession to make: I'm not really a tightwad.

I bet you were all thinking "Man she saves so much money, I bet she puts it all in savings and never wastes a dime." Ummm, NOT.

You see, I like to save money so that I can spend money. The more money I save via coupons, sales, turning the thermostat up (or down) and making Lee cut his own hair, the more money I can SPEND.

I used to spend money on Coach purses, Marc Jacobs sunglasses and mani/pedi's (ok, I still like those things). But ever since 108 came into my life, my spending has taken a different direction. I crave all things Pottery Barn, West Elm and Crate & Barrel.

Unfortunately, I don't make a Pottery Barn-esque salary, so I can't have Pottery Barn in my life without being cost conscious elsewhere.

I haven't paid for a pedicure in over a year, because I've found that I can do it myself (pretty decently) and save enough money for a throw pillow(!) or a vase(!) or a new doormat(!). (I know, I'm a geek.)

So, enough clarification on that. Now, onto the savings:

Last week, with ONE phone call, I saved us $420 over the next year! 

How is that possible you ask? Well, when we moved into our house a year ago and signed up with Time Warner Cable, we got a 12-month promotional deal on both our digital cable and high-speed Internet services. We've been dreading the end of that 12-month period for months now. Our bill came this month and it was almost $50 higher than what we'd been paying -- up from $93 to $142.

So I hopped on the horn and got a TWC rep on the phone. It went a little something like this*: 

Me: Anything you can do to lower my bill? 

TWC: Well, no. 

Me: Hmmm, that's too bad. Times are tight and I'm not paying $150 every month for TV and Internet. And DirecTV and Verizon sure have been sending me some enticing offers.

TWC: Umm, let me transfer you to our retention team.

Me: Hello retention lady. If you want to "retent" me you can lower my bill.

TWC Retention Lady: Ok, let's see what we can do.

She proceeded to get our bill down to $98 a month, just $5 more than what we were paying. I was most appreciative and felt a little surge of victory.

*Actual conversation may have varied slightly.

HOWEVER, the next part of the story is very un-tightwad-ish. I had to call Time Warner back a few days later to get our balance for July (instead of paying the $142, they prorated this month's balance). After the rep gave me the balance, she said "WAIT -- we're running a deal right now -- Showtime and Cinemax for only $5/month for 2 years." Now normally I wouldn't have even considered this but I happened to remember that Big Brother After Dark comes on Showtime and since BB is my summertime obsession, I caved. "Yes, sign me up." 

Damn it! They suckered me in for a little more each month. BUT, I figure if we watch just one Showtime or Cinemax movie a month instead of renting one, then it will pay for itself. And, I can always cancel if we end up not using it (after Big Brother is over of course).

Under Attack + Fruits of Our Labor

I told you we were worried about deer eating our garden. We had been lucky. No signs of deer. They ate our neighbor's blackberries, but didn't touch our garden. 

Then, one day while I was at work, our neighbor posted this picture to Facebook:

That picture was taken out of their window. Yep, that's our garden. Crap-ola.

We surveyed the damage. So far, she's only dined on cucumber leaves. She left the cukes intact, but ate off most of the leaves and blossoms that would've grown new veggies:

At least she didn't touch the tomatoes. She did however get the sunflowers that were growing back near the woods. I mean COME ON! My sunflowers?! NOT necessary.

We went to Lowe's. We bought this:

Yep, deer stopper. You just spray it on your plants and it stops the deer. It smells like old people perfume. I am skeptical. BUT, it's 100% satisfaction guaranteed!! So it HAS to work, right?? We shall see.

Anyway, after I got over that devastation, I realized we had a lot of picking to do. Our cukes  and tomatoes are growing almost faster than we can eat them. Here's what we harvested just on Saturday:

I've found that the most fun part of having a garden is coming up with new ways and recipes to use all of your freshly grown goods. So on Saturday, I decided to make a delicious fresh pasta salad with cukes and cherry tomatoes. I couldn't decide between a mayo-based pasta salad and an oil-and-vinegar based one, so I made one of both:

They were super-delish!

Ok, that's all for now. I'll be back tomorrow with a few yummy food pics & recipes, plus a (sort of) Tightwad Tuesday post.

One Word Wednesday

Ouch.

(Other applicable words: Stupid. Aloe. Peeling.)

Love Letter to Our Home

Dear House,

A year ago today we pulled up in our U-Haul, two first-time homebuyers excited to make you our own. You’ve been good to us over the past 365 days, so I wanted to take a moment to say thanks.

One of the biggest selling points for me a year ago was your kitchen. It had all the things I wanted: granite countertops, a big island, hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances. I still love all of those things about your kitchen, but it’s the little things I’ve come to cherish even more: the many wonderful meals we’ve cooked there, the way you function beautifully to entertain a party of 2 or 20, and the fact that your cutout window allows me to watch TV while standing at the sink doing dishes.

We also love you for your two-story living room, your upstairs loft, your yard and the plethora of wildlife living in it (well, sometimes).

Now, I should mention that it hasn’t always been a cakewalk. You were far from perfect, but we’ve been doing our best to make you all that you can be. Like when you had water in your crawlspace and Lee had to dig up the entire backyard to get you drained. Or the fact that some crazy electrician put the light switch to your master closet BEHIND the door in the most awkward position. After a day of cursing and thinking he had screwed up the wiring for the whole house, Lee finally got the switch moved to the more logical side of the door.

We still have a ways to go. I know you want a proper dining room table and china cabinet and your massive two-story living room wall with nothing on it makes you feel naked. Trust me, I want those things for you too. Hopefully Year Two will bring them and more.

You’ve seen us through a lot of milestones this past year. Our first time truly living together. The insanity that became my life while in the final stages of wedding planning. Three words: Joint.Checking.Account. Spending way too much money on Christmas decorations because we wanted you to look spectacular and wouldn’t settle for any less than two fully decorated trees. And our first addition to our family (by the way, I’d like to formally apologize for letting her live in the laundry room at first, we know you’re much happier now that she’s outside).

I should also take a moment to give a shout out to Holly Springs – thank you for welcoming us to town. You’re a long way from my work, but it’s worth it, to come home and feel “at home.” You’re a perfect medium: small enough to remind me of La Grange, but big enough to have a Sonic and a Lowe’s Foods.

So, House, thank you for a great first year. I can’t promise that we’ll never want to trade you out for a different model, but for now, to us, you are perfect (mostly).

Love,
Megan